A Grand Old Tree

“Once there was a grand old tree. Her roots sank deep into the earth, her arms reached high into the sky. She was home to many creatures.”

Lovingly written and illustrated, A Grand Old Tree is a wonderful tribute to an aging fruit tree. We watch as squirrels scamper, birds chirp and bees buzz in the branches of the tree. Through the seasons, we witness her bloom and produce seeds to blow from her branches. We consider how many leaves she has produced.

One moonlit winter night, she falls. Snow covers her weary trunk and branches. When spring arrives, we can see her offspring growing nearby and we know her decaying trunk is still home to raccoons, insects and lichen. We appreciate her legacy and understand that her children and grandchildren are now growing, flowering, and sowing.

Both informative and quietly reassuring, this is a picture book children will enjoy again and again.

Note: there is a concrete poem (the text is printed to represent the trunk of a tree) in the book.

DePalma takes the reader through the life cycle of a particular “grand old tree,” as the tree takes root, spreads her branches, provides a home for animals, flowers, fruits, sows seeds; after the tree dies in winter, she still provides a home for animals. Students learn about a tree’s life cycle through lyrical prose. The adjoining illustrations reinforce the concepts introduced in the text. They are brightly done and contain a hint of abstract method. ( )

I have been using this book to introduce life cycles with my six year old classes (class 1) because while they get the animal life cycle, this helps them understand that all living beings have a life cycle. My quibble with this book is the illustrations. The text is marvelous, but in some of the pictures there is a wide-awake owl in daytime. Hmmm. It was a great jumping off point for a discussion on accuracy in non-fiction (the book came cataloged as non-fiction and that is where we shelve it). I looked on amazon.com and it got three five star reviews with no one commenting on this disconnect in the pictures. But, I am still enjoying using this book with the students and they have really loved talking about it and hearing it. ( )

How cute! Love it! ( )

A biography of a tree from old age till after death. I would use this book show how important one tree is to so many different reasons.